Striking the balance: Navigating B2B content marketing trends in 2024
As the B2B content marketing landscape races into 2024, the recent pace of technological innovation is met with a growing need for authenticity. In this blog, we look at finding the balance between AI and the human touch, the increasing role of influencers, and the importance of genuine connections.
Technology is moving the world of B2B content marketing faster than ever – but a question lingers: do audiences actually want it to? As we enter a new year and contemplate the trends that will shape content and PR in 2024, it's apparent that B2B marketers are at a crossroads. The past few years have been a whirlwind of adapting to technological shifts – from social media trends and short-form videos, to working with influencers and coming to terms with 2023’s game-changer: AI.
Yet, amidst the race to keep up, have we inadvertently neglected the heart of it all – us, the human content creators? Yes, it seems people want to hear from people again and that we’re beginning to see a yearning for authenticity and human connection.
The trends for 2024 paint a really interesting picture, where we think the two paths will meet. On one side, AI is here to stay – we accept that – but as a valuable ally rather than to replace us. It’s proving to be a useful tool that can be integrated into our arsenals, presenting opportunities for enhanced efficiency and creativity, sparking ideas and helping beat writer’s block. At the same time, what we’re experiencing as a content writer team is that our clients and their audiences are indeed seeking that human touch in their marketing, sparked, perhaps, by the very technology that seeks to automate and optimise.
B2B audiences want meaningful engagement, insightful knowledge-sharing and stories that breathe life into the solutions, facts and figures. And when it comes to brand communication, authenticity takes centre stage, as B2B brands want to align with customers who share their values. This is what clients are asking from us as we go into 2024.
So, considering this new and refreshing demand for authenticity, let’s take a look at some of the B2B content marketing and PR trends to watch out for this year:
AI acceptance, evolution and expansion
Embracing the rise of generative AI – Around this time last year many of us were experiencing generative AI for perhaps the first time, following the release of ChatGPT towards the back-end of 2022. While most people were enjoying the light-hearted fun of writing funny limericks about their mates, “polishing up” their CVs and asking a robot to create them a million-dollar business plan, content marketers and writers were not so enthusiastic. I remember the first time I had a play with it – my first feeling was: *gulp*. It wasn’t perfect but it was certainly better than I’d expected.
In fact, Pod Content & PR Writer, Monia Dal Checco, asked if content writers would “become obsolete”. Thankfully what she concluded seems to be what’s emerging – “not quite”. “While AI can write simple text with the right grammar and a coherent structure”, she wrote, “there are crucial aspects of content writing that only a human can handle”.
A year on, content marketers have begun experimenting with generative AI with a fresh perspective and, according to Kantar’s Media Reactions 2023, positivity. Rather than replace copywriters, AI will assist content marketers in brainstorming and enhancing ideas.
Content marketers will require a basic knowledge of how to use and leverage AI. This is the only way for us to keep up with the pace and scale of the evolving technology, so that we can use it to our advantage to enhance efficiency in creative development and personalisation.
Authenticity in the automated age
Rediscovering the human touch – Another thing copywriters hoped (or prayed) AI would do was to highlight the value of humans in marketing. In 2024, B2B content marketers will need to keep this in mind as brands look to establish more meaningful human connections in their communications. Businesses will need to be more relatable, honest and – most importantly – sound like the people they are talking to.
Reading beyond the facts and figures – In October last year, the Pod’s esteemed Content & PR team took an extremely professional and work-related (we promise) trip to London to attend CopyCon 2023. One of the speakers was data storyteller Sam Knowles, who talked us through ‘the story in the numbers’. “The more you can understand the story in the numbers, the more it can influence your writing,” he said, pointing out that looking beyond the numbers could help us tell more powerful stories, and give them credibility, emotion and logic.
We couldn’t have heard this at a better time. This year, B2B content marketers, who’ve long focussed on using overwhelming amounts of data to show measurable outcomes, should look beyond those numbers to unveil the insights they give and the stories they tell. This is something that the Content Team at the Pod has always believed to be beneficial. As content experts with experience in the topics we write about, we’ve always believed digging into the stories behind the numbers provides richer, more meaningful content.
Values and customer connection
Finding a cultural balance – Consumers continue to say they want brands to resonate with their personal values, and that they actively choose to support companies championing causes that matter to them. With social media providing a huge platform, people have never had such a powerful outlet to hold businesses accountable when it comes to these values.
In 2024, therefore, it’s more important than ever for brands to stay attuned to cultural shifts, navigating the demands of their increasingly discerning audiences without compromising their own brand values in the process. It’s a tricky balance to find, which is why B2B marketers should make sure to take a position on issues that matter to their brand from the beginning of their campaigns.
The rise of influencer marketing – Everywhere you look, the figures on influencer marketing are pretty eye-watering. Influencer Marketing Hub’s State of Influencer Marketing 2023 benchmark report shows 67% of respondents had intended to increase their spend on influencers last year, and that 23% planned to do so by as much as 40%. On the other hand, the 2023 B2B Influencer Marketing Report shows 85% of B2B marketers built influencers into their strategies last year – up from 34% in 2020. Sorry to throw numbers at you merely four paragraphs after telling you not to. But these shifts are pretty striking, they are not your average incremental increases. Therefore in 2024, you can expect the influencer marketing trend to continue, but brands will need to be cautious. As influencers come with their own power and their own personal brands, B2B marketers must balance this authenticity with keeping control of their own messaging and values.
Back to basics
This year is shaping up to be an extremely interesting one. B2B marketers have more experience in navigating some of the challenges AI and the rise of influencers have presented over the last few years. As a result, 2024 is going to be a year that is less about the emergence of new trends, and more about getting the balance right. B2B content and PR marketers this year will be tasked with using these powerful new tools in the right way and making sure brands sound human and authentic.
As a content writer, this is exciting news – the exponential growth of new technologies and their influence on our work has been fascinating to watch. But reeling the machines in a little bit and seeing the call for revisiting some of the basics of our craft – creating those human connections – is what we hoped would eventually happen. It looks like businesses and their buyers are agreeing.
